We're Officially Just 1 Week Away From The Perfect-Rated New Horror Movie Stephen King Called "Special"

Published Oct 16, 2026, 9:31 AM EDT

Simon Gallagher has worked in movie and TV journalism for more than 17 years. He has written more than 6000 articles and reviews, and edited thousands more. He is an expert in the entertainment industry, particularly in the golden age of screen superheroes. Simon is also a Rotten Tomatoes approved critic.
 

Given his long experience with the genre, Stephen King has earned the right to be listened to when he talks about horror. In recent years, King has recommended lots of horror movies, more than anything else, using his social media presence to recommend what he enjoys, but he also makes time to recommend non-horror releases.

It doesn’t happen all the time, which makes it more special, but so far in 2026, he’s sang the praises of Apple TV show Last Seen and Taylor Sheridan’s Landman, as well as a brand new horror movie coming next week. And you know he’s honest, because when Stanley Kubrick offered his take on King’s The Shining, the author was famously quite open about how much he hated it. That means if he endorses something, he’s not doing it for any other reason than the pleasure of it.

In recent years, King has gone out of his way to shower praise on Parker Finn’s Smile, publicly celebrated Fall and Strange Darling, and recommended his huge audience check out Late Night with the Devil and Abigail. Typically, his good taste is proven when people listen and watch what he pushes their way.

And now, horror audiences have a big reason to mark their calendars for next week, after King offered one of his golden endorsements to an upcoming Shudder original title. The Cycle, which he called “special” is set to hit the horror streaming platform in exactly one week on October 23.

What To Know About The Cycle

Directed and written by Jordan Downey alongside Kevin Stewart, who previously teamed up for the terribly underseen dark fantasy The Head Hunter in 2018, The Cycle is an unsettling hybrid of cold-case thriller and monster feature. It stars Daredevil: Born Again’s Deborah Ann Woll as Meg Garland, a seasoned forensic expert who works at a body farm, studying decay after death. So far, so creepy.

She’s brought in to investigate the brutal double murder of a mother and child, and shockingly, the body of her father, missing for more than 30 years, turns up on the edge of their property. He appears to have been tortured repeatedly, leading Meg on an investigation that starts in the wheelhouse of Se7en, Mindhunter, and Zodiac, but gradually becomes something darker and more sinister.

Alongside Woll, The Cycle’s cast includes Jeffrey Donovan (Burn Notice), Gretchen Corbett, Jack Doolan, and William Hochman. Early reactions from its festival run proved to be glowing, and it already sits on a rare 100% score on Rotten Tomatoes, with King’s additional endorsement suggesting it could be one of the real gems of 2026. And it’s dropping at the perfect time for Halloween too.

Stephen King's Praise Makes The Cycle Even More Exciting

King’s praise for The Cycle meant hype for the upcoming horror took on an added dimension. He took to X to explicitly tell horror fans to watch out for it: "There's a movie coming on Shudder in October called The Cycle. I don't usually pump up horror movies (unless they are mine, haha), but this is special. Put it on your calendar."

The Cycle’s marketing has wisely leaned into King’s recommendation, with the trailer including his assessment that it’s a "terrific fright flick" that he’s pitching as "The Thing meets The Silence of the Lambs." Definitely not a bad crossover. And King knows all about that dark marriage, given he wrote the excellent The Outsider back in 2018 (which became an underrated HBO series starring Ben Mendelsohn a couple of years later).

Crucially, King’s endorsement matters because he rarely misses: if he recommends something - as he also did with Civil War, Infested, Train to Busan, and Barbarian, all of which were complete bangers, as the kids say - it’s typically going to be a 4 or 5 star experience. And as his endorsement itself hinted, King’s approval on a horror matters even more: there are few storytellers as gifted as him in the genre, and if he goes out of his way to praise someone else’s work in horror, you should pay attention.